FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a the creation of feedstock for a processing operation which feedstock is supplied in rolls of flexible sheet material subsequently comminuted to produce a mass of small pieces broken from the flexible sheet material. The invention also extends to a feedstock created from a plurality of rolls of sheet material and to feedstock-creating apparatus which utilises a plurality of rolls of sheet material.
The invention has particular, but not exclusive, application to cellulosic-based feedstock materials which may be used, inter alia, in the production of cellulosic fibres.
As primarily described herein, the process relates to the creation of batches of feedstock material but it is not ruled out that the invention can be used for a continuously operating plant.
Long lengths of sheet material are commonly supplied to end users in roll form, each roll being categorised with reference to at least one critical property of the sheet material, the end user selecting which rolls to use for the creation of a feedstock on the basis of an assessment of the values of the particular property assigned to the rolls that will be used for that feedstock. The invention has particular, but not exclusive, application to the situation where the eventual feedstock required for subsequent processing is created by mixing together small pieces removed from the sheet material drawn from a number of different rolls.